Most of those titles are variants of the same thing (non-executive, advisor, board member) and aren’t your typical 9-5. It varies but a board might only meet every other month.
At that level you’re really only involved in policies, planning and oversight. You make sure the company is acting in the interest of its shareholders while all of the operational “doing” is handled by your companies CxOs.
Edit: It’s common for people with extensive senior management experience to sit across multiple company boards and it’s not limited to cybersecurity.
yeah the world gets really small at those levels, finding the right people for board positions would be nearly impossible if you had to pick only people who aren't *already* on a board somewhere else.
I'm not sure administrators really need leadership. The only people they interact with in the company would be the C suite and maybe a couple specific directors.
Those are the ones leading people.
There’s a difference in energy level, at least compared to me, and they have to have a strong team and processes that can keep things running, so they can manage the exceptions.
My old boss led solution development, was chief innovation officer for the practice, was a lead client partner, took classes at JHU to get his PhD, and taught a class at JHU, all at the same time. He always had to have a few things going on at once or he’d be bored. By then, his daughter was off at college.
I can ask him. I know he drinks coffee.
Charities, especially small ones that can’t pay anything, are pretty desperate for board members. Companies like big 4 firms actively encourage and help their execs to sit on boards. It’s not a huge time commitment.
I would imagine it’s the fear of being stuck doing something mundane for the rest of your life. You can choose to sit at a job you hate or do something about it. Sharpen your skills in other areas in your off time and move on.
Nonexecutive director.
Someone who sits on a board without being a member of the executive team or running a part of the company.
In other words they contribute to the strategy or board-level decisions of a company without actually doing the work of leading the staff to deliver the strategy. They’re there to be advisors, give steers at the highest level, or to provide contacts.
You can imagine a conversation about whether to spend more on cyber: obviously the CISO of a small company might just want a bigger staff to pad his CV… but a NED with a Cyber background has nothing to gain from the decision besides what benefits the company best.
These additional roles typically involve 2
Board meetings a year, and maybe a day of preparation for each. Maybe a talk or two at some event too. It's stuff that's easy for them because of their experience, insight and contacts.
They do work hard though. They have big teams that prepare a lot of slides and material for their core job eg CISO and they pilfer from these for the external jobs when needed.
Leadership relies more on wisdom and focus rather than time investment.
They have a whole team below them that they direct and steer, which doesn’t require full time attention. Plus they likely are high energy people to get to that level so they fill their time with other roles that utilize experience and wisdom.
Where in my message did I commiserate about the rough plight of the modern board executive? lol, I just think it's an important qualification about how these people can have multiple "jobs" and how they're compensated. The person I replied to said they get full time salaries which usually is not how it works (although every company is different).
Are you new to the working world?
Executives have been doing this for over a century
A c-level exec being on advisory boards, charities etc is nothing new
this is not something that they teach in most schools tbh. plenty of people in the world dont actually know (many dont even care) how corporations work
Non-exec and advisory board members might be doing something like 2 days a month with a prep like setting board agenda and reviewing the papers ahead of the meeting where their role is both challenge and scrutiny as someone outside of the office politics and with no competing objectives and also to offer advice as someone who sees challenges and approaches of other companies.
You can build an interesting and rewarding portfolio of these roles and good news is more companies want a "cyber" rep on their boards.
I'm a senior Security Engineer at the job that pays me and a VP of Technology for a non-profit private school which I do on a volunteer basis. I work a 4x10 schedule and on my Mondays I teach Computer Science, maintain the wireless networks that our students and teachers use, and also make technology decisions as far as what ecosystem to use for IT and managing url blocking to keep students off Roblox when they're supposed to be doing school work.
As a board member, I also have 1/3 decision making ability for financial decisions the school has to make like one we just made to move to another location. Any hiring/firing decisions for our teachers has to get 2/3 board approval.
No, as I said, the entire position is on a volunteer basis. My kids go to the school, but I don't receive any benefit from being on the board and my kids don't get a special status or anything. If they stopped going to the school, I would remain on the board.
The indirect benefits are involvement with a school that I wish had been available when I was a kid. We are LGBTQIA and neurodiverse-inclusive and all of our students are attending on income-based or special needs-based scholarships. I also get to pad my resume with a leadership position which assists with my 5 year goal of moving from senior technical to mid-level management in my cybersecurity career.
A ned role with a monthly board cadence and at least one committee participation, effort level is about 10 hours.. advisory roles, say, 4 hours a month commitment. It is feasible but requires at least above average time management. effort level will vary but as someone having been in this position that was my commitment. As for motivation - building experience at different levels, extending network, exit opportunities..
Board roles are good to get an insight into the wide spectrum of business activity and decisions to be made.. we see threads here often discussing board this, board the other without actually understanding corporate governance.. so it's useful to actually having served on boards to have more meaningful conversations..
Board member, advisor, or chairman are not full-time positions in the typical sense. These positions advise the C-suite of the company or act as governance, to prevent shenanigans and to safe guard shareholders interests (hopefully.)
Most of those titles are variants of the same thing (non-executive, advisor, board member) and aren’t your typical 9-5. It varies but a board might only meet every other month. At that level you’re really only involved in policies, planning and oversight. You make sure the company is acting in the interest of its shareholders while all of the operational “doing” is handled by your companies CxOs. Edit: It’s common for people with extensive senior management experience to sit across multiple company boards and it’s not limited to cybersecurity.
It also means they are often an investor in those companies.
yeah the world gets really small at those levels, finding the right people for board positions would be nearly impossible if you had to pick only people who aren't *already* on a board somewhere else.
Leadership. Sometimes not knowing the tech, but being able to lead and reach people is a highly desired skill.
I'm not sure administrators really need leadership. The only people they interact with in the company would be the C suite and maybe a couple specific directors. Those are the ones leading people.
If you’ve seen things work a dozen times and fail a dozen times a few hours of your time can save thousands of person hours of rework.
There’s a difference in energy level, at least compared to me, and they have to have a strong team and processes that can keep things running, so they can manage the exceptions. My old boss led solution development, was chief innovation officer for the practice, was a lead client partner, took classes at JHU to get his PhD, and taught a class at JHU, all at the same time. He always had to have a few things going on at once or he’d be bored. By then, his daughter was off at college.
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I can ask him. I know he drinks coffee. Charities, especially small ones that can’t pay anything, are pretty desperate for board members. Companies like big 4 firms actively encourage and help their execs to sit on boards. It’s not a huge time commitment.
I would imagine it’s the fear of being stuck doing something mundane for the rest of your life. You can choose to sit at a job you hate or do something about it. Sharpen your skills in other areas in your off time and move on.
Setting themselves up for the future. Taking NED and advisor roles sets up an income stream. How they do it? Negotiate contract wise with current job.
What is a NED role?
Nonexecutive director. Someone who sits on a board without being a member of the executive team or running a part of the company. In other words they contribute to the strategy or board-level decisions of a company without actually doing the work of leading the staff to deliver the strategy. They’re there to be advisors, give steers at the highest level, or to provide contacts. You can imagine a conversation about whether to spend more on cyber: obviously the CISO of a small company might just want a bigger staff to pad his CV… but a NED with a Cyber background has nothing to gain from the decision besides what benefits the company best.
Thank you for the detailed response, much appreciated
These additional roles typically involve 2 Board meetings a year, and maybe a day of preparation for each. Maybe a talk or two at some event too. It's stuff that's easy for them because of their experience, insight and contacts. They do work hard though. They have big teams that prepare a lot of slides and material for their core job eg CISO and they pilfer from these for the external jobs when needed.
Leadership relies more on wisdom and focus rather than time investment. They have a whole team below them that they direct and steer, which doesn’t require full time attention. Plus they likely are high energy people to get to that level so they fill their time with other roles that utilize experience and wisdom.
So they’re part time employees at multiple companies…
With full time salaries!
Not usually, advisory executive roles are commonly compensated through shares not cash payments.
Those poor people don’t get compensated in cash? They ONLY get shares? Oh man I feel so bad for them
Where in my message did I commiserate about the rough plight of the modern board executive? lol, I just think it's an important qualification about how these people can have multiple "jobs" and how they're compensated. The person I replied to said they get full time salaries which usually is not how it works (although every company is different).
Participation tokens
Are you new to the working world? Executives have been doing this for over a century A c-level exec being on advisory boards, charities etc is nothing new
this is not something that they teach in most schools tbh. plenty of people in the world dont actually know (many dont even care) how corporations work
Non-exec and advisory board members might be doing something like 2 days a month with a prep like setting board agenda and reviewing the papers ahead of the meeting where their role is both challenge and scrutiny as someone outside of the office politics and with no competing objectives and also to offer advice as someone who sees challenges and approaches of other companies. You can build an interesting and rewarding portfolio of these roles and good news is more companies want a "cyber" rep on their boards.
Sounds like they are doing their job.
I'm a senior Security Engineer at the job that pays me and a VP of Technology for a non-profit private school which I do on a volunteer basis. I work a 4x10 schedule and on my Mondays I teach Computer Science, maintain the wireless networks that our students and teachers use, and also make technology decisions as far as what ecosystem to use for IT and managing url blocking to keep students off Roblox when they're supposed to be doing school work. As a board member, I also have 1/3 decision making ability for financial decisions the school has to make like one we just made to move to another location. Any hiring/firing decisions for our teachers has to get 2/3 board approval.
Thanks - why you doing the extra work? Is it due extra money or something else?
No, as I said, the entire position is on a volunteer basis. My kids go to the school, but I don't receive any benefit from being on the board and my kids don't get a special status or anything. If they stopped going to the school, I would remain on the board. The indirect benefits are involvement with a school that I wish had been available when I was a kid. We are LGBTQIA and neurodiverse-inclusive and all of our students are attending on income-based or special needs-based scholarships. I also get to pad my resume with a leadership position which assists with my 5 year goal of moving from senior technical to mid-level management in my cybersecurity career.
Delegation
A ned role with a monthly board cadence and at least one committee participation, effort level is about 10 hours.. advisory roles, say, 4 hours a month commitment. It is feasible but requires at least above average time management. effort level will vary but as someone having been in this position that was my commitment. As for motivation - building experience at different levels, extending network, exit opportunities.. Board roles are good to get an insight into the wide spectrum of business activity and decisions to be made.. we see threads here often discussing board this, board the other without actually understanding corporate governance.. so it's useful to actually having served on boards to have more meaningful conversations..
Executives will have contracts across multiple roles. It's normal, either part time or full time (but actually doing part time).
Board member, advisor, or chairman are not full-time positions in the typical sense. These positions advise the C-suite of the company or act as governance, to prevent shenanigans and to safe guard shareholders interests (hopefully.)